The Gossamer Threads of Fate

~* Book 4.5 of the Salak'patan Series *~

The civilizations of the Halls rose up from the ashes of destruction to begin anew after a terrible war devastated everything and left only the tattered remains of what had once existed. Historical records from a time before the war were lost and discarded in the struggle for survival and buried in the process of rebuilding. All that remains of that vast history for the new civilization of the survivors are the rumors passed down by their ancestors, the shattered remains of the old civilization, and the legends and forgotten fragments of an even older civilization known only as the 'Ancients'. For decades Monorth has been wandering down the path of discovery, slowly but surely uncovering the clues to that lost history and reawakening the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients. It was towards these goals he had decided to dedicate himself, with his family following along at his side. They had left behind their quiet lives as a part of modern society, so that they could step past the borders of what was known and into the far flung and forgotten realms beyond the Rim.

And for a time their lives were peaceful and their future seemed bright, but what was supposed to be a quiet 'family outing' took them from their quiet sanctuary. It sent them wandering into the unknown, as they sought out the legends of a huge piece of that lost history. Far from the fringes of civilization they find a continent sized city, the ruins of the past, and proof of the vast knowledge of the Ancients. But when a hyper-active Fire cat, a forgotten city of the Ancients, and a lost seemingly impossible technology combine into a disastrous force. Monorth discovers that he has suddenly become stranded in those vast unknown spans of forgotten history. Now he has been caught in that Ancient history by a time machine, trapped far from home with no way to get back, and lost on a world and in a time-line he knows nothing about. To make matters worse Monorth has stepped into the black shadow cast by a cruel evil, the shadow of a monstrous ruler who delights in the torture and deaths of innocent people. That darkness not only threatens to make Monorth's future a short one, but has roots in the darkest moment of his own past. Can Monorth fight his way free of fate, or is he predestined to see his last days in a history that is doomed to be forgotten?